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Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ARA2171: A History of the Modern Middle East, 1900-2014

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to develop your skills in historiographical as well as historical analysis in the manner in which it looks at the ways in which different pasts, histories and memories have been created across the modern Middle East. It will contrast Orientalist forms of scholarship with more critical approaches and aims to develop the conceptual and theoretical capabilities of students, as well as their subject knowledge. Additionally, the module will explore the methods of comparative, transnational and global history, exploring how these ideas are developed in scholarship and how they can be deployed in your work.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Appreciate the diversity/uniformity which marked the historical development of modern states in the region, and to evaluate it in the light of current debates on colonial and post-colonial socio-political systems.
2. Demonstrate an in-depth critical understanding of the relationship between ideology, politics and culture as forces which have shaped the modern Middle East;
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Discuss empirically-based research in the light of wider theoretical frameworks and to critically evaluate historical processes from a range of cultural perspectives;
4. Understand historical change through a multi-disciplinary approach;
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the interdisciplinary methods upon which Area Studies and Middle East Studies are based;
6. Appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of types of history and forms of historical evidence;
Personal and Key Skills7. Study independently and in and group work, including participation in oral discussion; and
8. Organise data effectively to produce a coherent argument to a deadline, both orally and in writing.
9. Reflect on complex academic debates and re-present such work in an accessible and personal form through a blog.